Posted on 08/23/2017 4:29:32 PM PDT by Jagermonster
The unusual spate of collisions, two of them fatal, has called into question the US Navy’s level of preparedness, analysts say, and point to potential problems with training, maintenance, or sailors’ workload.
WASHINGTON—A recent spate of collisions involving US Navy ships from the Seventh Fleet, two of them fatal, has led the Navy to relieve that fleet’s commander, Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, reportedly after his superiors lost confidence in his leadership.
The latest collision, Monday off the coast of Singapore, was between the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain and a Liberian-flagged tanker. Ten sailors were reported missing, and the Navy says divers have located the remains of some of those missing in flooded compartments of the destroyer.
The mishap follows a similar tragedy in June, in which seven sailors died when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant vessel south of Japan. That followed two less serious but nonetheless unusual incidents involving ships of the Pacific-based Seventh Fleet in January and May. According to analysts, the collisions call into question the Navy’s level of military preparedness and point to potential problems with training, maintenance, and the workload endured by sailors. What is going on? It could all be down to coincidence – Monday’s collision, for example, occurred in a heavily traveled shipping lane – and any final conclusions on their cause will have to await the results of multiple investigations. Nevertheless, many analysts agree there may be some systemic problems at work here.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
>Sorry. I get a little agitated when we start talking about specific capabilities in specific ways.
Fully understandable, I’m not upset.
>I also bristle at even the possibility of a carrier leaving port with any of her radars down and Phalanx offline. Good grief.
When I was told about it, I didn’t believe it. How could the navy have fallen so low? It just seemed crazy but the person I talked said it was normal. After seeing mess of the recent accidents I now think it’s true.
>In the Submarine Service there was no sense of humor whatsoever for inoperable equipment. It worked or somebodies butt was in a sling. No excuses.
I would bet the subs are experiencing the same moral decay the rest of the fleet is these days. Trump and Mattis need to be all over this. Obama may have single handedly destroyed our military by rotting it from within with his social experiments.
No doubt about that. Obama turned our military into a jobs program. That's why he opened everything up to everyone.
Accepting OOC for months of routine is unacceptable. Accepting OOC when the repair will take days and your submarine is interacting closely with the other side? Isn't that a whole lot better than standing port and starboard (or worse) and then going without sleep to repair an item for which there are backups and that will take enough time to fix that you will be out of that situation anyways? In a pressure situation, it is better to set priorities.
I remember when a lot of FReepers were condemning Commanders for say that they needed more training funds if they wanted to stay in fighting trim....thought it was a waste of their money to do all that expensive training....Obama screwed us in so many ways it’s insane and a lot of narrow-issue (personal pocketbook in all things) idiots helped..
“”This is good substantive reporting””
No. This is a lobbyist attempting to convince the public that spending more money on the Navy will fix all the problems and secondarily will fill the lobbyist’s pocket.
Read my first sentence since you missed it the first time.
What is MEPS?
It is where recruits go and get their tests, and give their oath before they set off to their training base. if you are in a city there will be a MEPS station.
i sat there while my son joined the Marine Corps, and you could tell who was joining the Marines to who was joining the other certain services, though the Coast Guard all looked bright, smart kids.
BS...... Excuses, excuses, excuses.
There is no excuse for a collision other than failure to maintain a proper look out. Those on the bridge faailed
Ship driving within the rules of the road is an extremely perishable skill-set. This is why the USCG, having recognized this decades ago, mandates 2 weeks of ship driving ROTR refresher training in maritime simulators for all their prospective CO/XO. (OPS officer school too)
Years ago these same simulators were used by the USN for sub XO and SOAC (OPS) school training before they got their own simulators. They spent 2 hours in the simulators total. Don’t know what it is now. I wonder if that’s where investigators need to start looking for a preventative solution. Training.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.